#birkbeckvoices

On Wednesday 27 November 2013, novelist Alan Hollinghurst spoke about his writing and his Booker Prize-winning novel, The Line of Beauty, to an audience of Birkbeck students and alumni. Find out more about Birkbeck's School of Arts: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/arts/

Recent international climate change talks and the heightened risk of climate change-related flooding in the UK are discussed in this podcast. Dr Diane Horn, of Birkbeck’s Department of Geography, Environment and Development Studies, speaks about these matters, including her latest research, which was published in Nature, about the limitations of the Flood Re insurance scheme. Dr Horn describes the advantages and disadvantages of the Flood Re scheme currently being finalised by insurers and the Government. In particular, she notes that Flood Re does not provide any incentives to reduce inappropriate development on the floodplain, and highlights the need for planning policies to include better strategies for climate change adaptation. Relevant links: Dr Diane Horn (http://ow.ly/rV7mZ) Birkbeck’s Department of Geography, Environment and Development Studies (http://ow.ly/rV7vF) Nature.com - November 2013 (http://ow.ly/rV7Bk) http://www.bbk.ac.uk/news/birkbeck-voices-podcast/focusing-on-climate-change-and-flood